AFTER tipping Jason Day last week Louis Ross (@LouisRoss67) is back with picks for this week's Wyndham Championship.
Wyndham Championship | Thursday – Sunday | Sky Sports
Well last week wasn't too shabby for us. 1st,10th and 21st was not a bad return, although Adam Scott has moved onto a permanent place on the Sergio List. I can promise you will not be seeing him here again!
Enough of that, we are into the last tournament of the regular season before the series of FedEx Cup play-offs begin. Greensboro in North Carolina is where you will find the PGA Tour this week at the Sedgefield Country Club.
Events held either side of a Major Championship tend to attract fairly weak fields. That is rarely the case here as the pros fight for the last few spots available for the Top 125 in the FedEx. With the exception of the Top 15 or so in the world, this is a fairly strong event and without Jordan Spieth or Rory McIllroy, we have a 16/1 favourite. Golf betting as it was before the bookies tightened up when they realised how good Spieth and McIlroy were.
We are also back to a Resort style course. Wide fairways, huge Green complexes and a tournament where you can almost guarantee the winning score will be somewhere around -20.
As predicted, the PGA was dominated by the bombers (and DJ collapsed again). This is not the kind of golf course that demands 350 yards off the tee which is a huge relief to 75% of the field but I am still looking for players that can drive it 300 and keep the thing on the short stuff. Big greens are one thing but on Bermudagrass, if you miss then it is a task getting up and down here.
Equally, wayward drives will make second shots very difficult to control. Saying all of that, Sedgfield ranked as the easiest Par 70 on Tour in 2014.
The tournament itself has a habit of throwing up first time winners. However, look closer at some of the names such as Patrick Reed in 2013, Webb Simpson and even back to Brandt Snedeker in 2007.
Regular readers will know I am very much a ‘horses for courses' man, especially on tracks like these where a very particular type of player normally does well. There are a few players here that fulfil that criteria and luckily this week prices are more than fair. It's almost as though oddsmakers are thrown by not having a 6/1 favourite to base everything around. Great for us as there is better value than normal and I really think we can take advantage.
We have tipped just four favourites this season (three have won) and I think my first selection will go off in that position. Brooks Koepka is a player I really like but not for me at 16/1. Still a little erratic for me. No, number one pick this week was my first ever BIG price winner and I love the guy. Step forward Brandt Snedeker.
Sneds (I feel we are almost mates) is the kind of player I love to watch. No fannying about like Keegan Bradley and that lot. No, this guy just steps up and smacks it. Rarely even takes a practice stroke when putting. As mentioned above, a win here in 07 has been backed by fifth last year and a couple more Top 10s.
On form, Sneds is a Top 10 in the world golfer. He's slipped from that level in the last 18 months but that has been down to a few nasty injuries and a major hip problem that thankfully he seems to be recovering from. Four Top 10 finishes in the last two months were backed up by a very nice 12th at Whistling Straits. He is this weeks nap no question.
I am going to back him up with another couple of personal favourites. The FedEx champ himself Billy Horschel seems to come into his own at this time of year. 28/1 seems huge in this field. His kind of course, he also seems to do well in fields like this. Honestly this is a gut feel.
Billy did show up well on Saturday and Sunday. A closing 75 dropped him to 25th but that is still a great result in any Major Championship. Horschel is a very emotional golfer and does not seem to have the temprament to compete at the very highest level. However, he does seem to come alive in these events and I will happily take him on at those odds.
Paul Casey is 25/1 in places so the 35/1 on offer with Bet365 seems a little generous. Once rated number three in the world before a series of injuries, he seems to have been involved at the pointy end a number of times this year and has bagged a few decent price places and top 20 finishes for us. I'm confident he will win this year and this could well be the week. A last round 74 left him tied 30th when a Top 10 seemed on the cards. Ignore that. The Englishman is playing well enough and has the game to do well here.
Finally good old boy Boo Weekley. A proper old redneck, Boo strikes a golf ball beautifully. I always look at him in First Round leader markets and it would not surprise me at all if he opens with a 62. His putting seems to be coming together recently and one thing I can promise is that he will give himself enough chances. I am always prepared to take him on at big odds in this kind of field.
Finally, thank you to everyone for all the kind messages this week. Everyone at WLB does this because we love it. I know I speak for all when I say that getting you a winner or two is worth the hard work. Please feel free to contact me via Twitter (@LouisRoss67) with any questions or comments. Good luck to you all!
Best Bets
Wyndham Championship – Brandt Snedeker each way (18/1 Paddy Power)
Wyndham Championship – Billy Horschel each way (28/1 BetVictor)
Wyndham Championship – Paul Casey each way (35/1 Bet365)
Wyndham Championship – Boo Weekley each way (100/1 BetVictor)
